As a baby, I was very chubby. I don't think I really started to grow out of that until about age 11. As a teenager, I always felt a little heavy, even though I really wasn't. I finally began to feel good about myself, as I came into my own at college. At age 21, I lived in Japan for 18 months. During that time I was exposed to one of the most healthy diets in the world; chicken and fish with fresh vegetables and mildly sweet fruit. We ate rice everyday, but never with butter or sauces that make it unhealthy. A traditional Japanese diet along with bicycling up and down the mountains above Kobe and through the city of Kyoto, I was at my lowest weight and the most physically fit I had ever been.

A few years later, I was married with a baby on the way. That's where the real trouble began with my weight; well that and a return to the unhealthy food choices so abundant in America. I gained 80 lbs while pregnant. Yikes! I only lost about half of that before becoming pregnant with my second son. Another big gain...60 lbs. I lost about 50 lbs. of that, which still left me 50 lbs overweight. Life's ups and downs, including the tragic loss of our second son at 2 1/2 years old (a month before 9/11), kept my weight on the all too familiar weight yo-yo. Four years later, I had our third son, after gaining 35 lbs. I lost some of that, but gained it all back while off my feet after major foot surgery last year. I was officially at my all time high; 215 lbs!

A few months later, my husband was offered a job across the country. We were living in upstate New York, near my family and where I grew up. So, it was a tough decision to move but a good one. After moving, my husband heard about hCG from a friend. He gave me a copy of "Pounds & Inches" and asked me to read it to see what I thought of it, and to see if I was interested in doing it with him. By that time, I was disgusted with myself and desperate to lose weight. So, I read it. Immediately, it made sense to me. I knew this was something I could do. I liked the limitations, knowing that it was cut and dry, with no wiggle room for mistakes.

I found out that there were videos about the hCG Protocol on youtube. I had never been on youtube before that! So, I went on and watched vlogs from mamaclok. She had lost 80 lbs, which was exactly what I wanted to lose. I was hooked! So, we ordered our hCG and I found out what I would need to mix it. By this time, I didn't even know there were people out there spending hundreds to over a thousand dollars, at clinics and chiropractors, to follow "Pounds & Inches". I didn't know anything about Kevin Trudeau, or his extreme take on the protocol (You could easily spend hundreds of dollars doing it his way, too!). We ordered our hCG with some friends, to save on the shipping costs) and I watched a few mixing video's to figure out what supplies we would need. Then I shopped around until I found it all.

We started on a dose of 150 IUs and dug in with the "eating to capacity" part and gained two more lbs. The eating part was fun! I felt very hungry the first week of the 500 calorie diet. Then I realized that much of that was the unfamiliar feeling of NOT being full. The absence of a full stomach was now what I interpreted as hunger! That was my first big "ah-ha moment" of the protocol. I had heard of some people on hCG saying they weren't even hungry at all. I was definitely hungry still and very preoccupied with thoughts of food through out the day. So, I bumped my dose up to 175 IUs. Within a few days, I had to remind myself to eat! Even on 150 IUs of hCG, I noticed other positive benefits of hCG. I had tons of energy. I went from feeling desperate for a nap in the after noon, to going strong all day, and then sleeping great at night. My skin looked and felt better, I had a better outlook and was more pleasant to be around. I also quit snoring, which my husband is very thankful for. I was feeling good!

During this time, I was obsessed with keeping up with my new friends on Youtube. I started vlog'ing my progress. It became a community of us, supporting each other. And we are still going strong! (You can see my vlogs at http://www.youtube.com/user/lessofme1)

The normal protocol is 43 days long. By the 40th day, I had lost 27.2 lbs. I was on a roll and feeling great. I had heard about others that felt they had become immune to hCG during a round. Some had extended their course longer than the 43 days. From what I could tell, all of them had shortened the stabilization and maintenance and went back on hCG sooner. It seemed like sticking to Dr. Simeons prescribed 6, 8 and 12 week maintenance was the key to keeping from becoming immune on the next round. So, I decided to continue on hCG as long as I was feeling good and losing weight. I stayed on the low calorie diet for 59 days, until I basically got sick of the food and was ready for a break. I had lost 36 lbs so far! I continued on the low calorie diet, without hCG for 72 hours, as explained by Dr. Simeons in "Pounds & Inches". (Dr. Simeons says you should stabilize and maintain at your last injection weight) But, during that time and the next day or so, I had lost another four pounds, for a whopping total of 40 lbs! Since I lost that weight very quickly, I decided to stabilize and maintain at that weight. I was prepared to do a steak day, if I went more than two lbs over that. But, I never needed to! After 3 weeks of keeping sugar and starch out of my diet, I returned to eating whatever I wanted. I didn't count calories, just ate when I felt like it. I did notice that as soon as I added starch and sugar back in, I began to crave them again - another "ah-ha moment"!

Now I look back at that time I lived in Japan, and can't believe I didn't make the connection sooner about why I was so healthy then and so unhealthy 15 years later. My choice of foods had so much more to do with my weight, than the amount of food I was eating! The hCG protocol has changed the way I think about food. I have a healthier relationship with food now. I started a second round of hCG the first week of September and after a few weeks in, found out I was pregnant! I gained almost 90 lbs with that pregnancy, which is not unusual for me, due to having toxemia and being on bedrest. With the help of hCG, I lost much of the baby weight and continued to work towards my original weight loss goals.

As many of you have experienced, things are going well and you feel on track, and then something else happens to throw you back off balance. The same has been true for me. In June of 2012 my family and I were in a serious car accident. I broke my back and herniated several discs. I broke several bones in my foot, damaged my hip, along with various other injuries. My husband had similar injuries and is now recovering from major back surgery. Luckily our children were safe in their car seats in the back seat and weren't hurt badly. I was very inactive for the following year as I healed. Unfortunately, I will have some back and hip pain for the rest of my life. As a result of the inactivity and long recovery time, I gained much of the weight back, that I had previously lost. So, here I am in 2014, back at it again, ready to lose weight again, right along with you!

Although the details of my story are different, the story of weight gains and losses may be very similar to yours! Crap happens! We are doing great and then WHAM, something changes everything... Or maybe life gets away from us and so does our weight. We lose tract of our resolve to do better and gain. Then, something happens and we SEE ourselves again, and desire something better for ourselves! That's when change happens. Then we make better choices and see the results. So I can relate to the ups and downs in life and with weight! I've lost some of the weight that I gained back, but I'm still on that weight loss journey with all of you!! I wish I was on of those that lost it for good and never had to look back, but instead I've become an expert at this and I hope my experience can be a benefit to you! So, join me in the journey, as I continue to discover better health, an improved outlook on life, and just plain looking better!

I would encourage anyone that is struggling with weight, to consider hCG as a way to reach your goals. This has been the journey of a lifetime!